We Have Not The Luxury To Count The Cost

Billions will live or die by our actions here

The Enemy Within

“You have commited the ultimate heresy. Not only have you turned your back on the Emperor and stepped from His light, you have profaned His name and almost destroyed everything He has striven to build. You have perverted and twisted the path He has laid for Mankind to tread. As your own decrees have stated, there can be no mercy for such a crime, no pity for such a criminal. I renounce your lordship. You walk in the darkness and can not be allowed to live. Your sentence has been long overdue, and now it is time for you to die.” – Saint Dominica to Lord Vandire

Across the Imperium the worlds and cultures of man are varied and radically different. Such a massive swathe of worlds cannot possibly be assimilated into a single culture. Indeed, at this dark hour the only true constant that holds the worlds of the Imperium together is faith in the Emperor and duty to his Imperium. Divergence from this faith and creed is dubbed Heresy, and heretics have no place amongst the faithful.

What actually constitutes heresy varies from world to world but to the Inquisition, the true danger of heresy is the breakdown of social order and worse, the temptation of the heretic to turn from the Emperor to the worship or darker, more destructive powers. As such the Inquisition dedicates a branch known as the Ordo Hereticus to rooting out heresy wherever it may be found. Whether it takes the form of a cult whose practices have strayed too far from the Emperor’s light, mutants whose heresy manifests in genetic deviance, or psykers who dabble with powers far beyond their comprehension; all are heretics and will be purged.